Quality management means all activities focused on maintaining the desired quality level of the product or software. It implements short-term initiatives to achieve long-term goals.
Definition of Quality Management
Quality management is a business philosophy that promotes the idea that the long-term success of the entire company comes from customer satisfaction and loyalty. It is an important element of a company’s overall project management. All QM activities focus on ensuring that the required level of quality is achieved by submitting improvements to the software development process. Quality management starts with an idea for a product and then continues through the design, testing, and launch phases.
Let’s list the three phases of quality management:
- Quality planning—implemented before software development starts. This phase is believed to be the most important aspect of QM. During quality planning, testers create goals and objectives for the product.
- Quality assurance—this phase is the actual building of the product. Software performance is checked to ensure that all standards are being followed.
- Quality control—during this phase, testers discover bugs, evaluate features etc. Quality control ensures that best practices and standards are followed by software developers to produce quality products.
Why implement quality management?
In a successful company, software quality must be the requirement, not an exception. Below you will find the most important benefits of quality management:
- Customer satisfaction – if you develop products of high quality, it is likely that your products will satisfy the customer. A satisfied customer will often become a repeat customer and/or provide positive referrals.
- Reputation—company reputation is a powerful business driver. Quality management activities help you establish a solid reputation that will bring more customers and revenue.
- Cost optimization—faulty software projects are expensive. By implementing quality management processes throughout the software development process, you save time and money after launch.
- Great user experience—UX can make or break a product. Glitchy software impedes the experience of the user with it. Good user experience means satisfied users who are more likely to recommend your product to others.
